


The Gift

by Mazapan_42



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, One Shot, Post-Time Skip, it starts with ranting but I swear there's fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28399161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mazapan_42/pseuds/Mazapan_42
Summary: You and Kenma are going to spend Christmas together. One problem, you hadn't bought a gift for him.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	The Gift

**Author's Note:**

> For Goldie.

Snow was awesome. Everyone liked snow, or so you would presume. What’s there not to like about it? It's fun to play with, and even if you find it too cold you can just watch it fall and that’s already nice enough. But right now the snow was your enemy, and you deeply hated it. Ok, maybe hate was too much of a strong word, but you certainly were not liking snow today. Why? Well, because of the excessive amount of snow that decided to fall last night, and was still set on falling, meaning you could not get out of your house. 

On any other day you would have found this situation extremely pleasant, a perfect excuse to not go to your very demanding job and spending all day inside your cozy home with your boyfriend. But not today. Today was Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas, and here you were, inside your very cozy place, dinner already made for the evening, and with no present for your boyfriend. That’s right, you might as well accept the prize for worst girlfriend of the year now because you hadn’t bought anything for your beloved, in what’s possibly one of the most important days for couples.

Is not that you had forgotten, of course not, ever since the start of December you had felt the looming fear of not having bought a gift as the day approached. You just simply hadn’t gotten the time (yes, the lamest of excuses but it's true). Your job was very busy around these dates, and honestly, you always had a hard time deciding what to give Kenma. You had tried asking him, but even without doing so you already knew the answer.

“I don’t need anything in particular, don’t worry about it.”

Of course, of course he had no need for anything. And even if he did he would be able to buy anything he wanted, with all the money he had. What can a simple girl with a decent paying job be able to offer that he had not already?

But you never let those thoughts discourage you. Whether it was his birthday, Valentine’s, Christmas or whatever special occasion. You had managed to give him fairly cute and beloved presents every time, and this year was not going to be any different, you were not going to lose. 

Still, to say you had a hard time finding the “perfect” gift was an understatement. You had to accept maybe this was not your best year. Even phoning Kuroo this time hadn’t helped much (asking Kuroo for help was not cheating, that’s what the best friends of your partner were there for anyways). He was also very busy with his work and had come up short with cool ideas this year, what a great guy. But you didn’t need his help anyways, you were a cool lad and could manage on your own.

Or so you thought, but five days before Christmas you realized you were in big trouble. Would a comfy hoodie be enough? What about some arts and crafts of whatever you found on youtube? Too homemade? Not caring enough? Everything was snowballing and you were running out of time. 

Until you decided to watch one of his streams because why not, you always liked to see them in your free time. This particular stream had a little something different from the others, and no, it was not that he was particularly cuter with his hair let down instead of his usual bun (maybe a little but that’s not important). On this one stream Kenma had a problem with his headset, it wasn’t much, but he complained about not being able to hear well. 

It was like a sign from the Universe, and in that moment you knew what you had to do. You were going to buy him a headset, he would appreciate something related to his profession. 

But it couldn’t just be any headset, first of all it had to be a good quality one, and second it had to be...different. Different how? You didn’t know, but you were going to manage. 

On a last minute search it seemed that the Universe was starting to slowly like you again, because you found the perfect headset. Heck, it was beyond perfect, it was the one. A neko headset, of course, how could you have not thought about it before? Kenma was basically a cat in his behaviour, he had gone to Nekoma for Christ’s sake! This was something you could not let pass.

But as soon as you think you and the Universe are about to be best buds again, the bitch comes and stabs you in the back, yet again. 

By this point in your life one would believe that you have learned that the world is sometimes cruel and unforgiving, sometimes more than it should be. And what caused your suffering on this specific occasion was one of the most trivial of things to suffer from: money. Damn the money, damn this world ruled over some uninteresting pieces of paper that we collectively decided to assign value to, damn capitalism, damn...you had no time to start your mini revolution of one person anyways. 

Bottom line is the headset was expensive, not that you didn’t have any money, you earned a good enough amount on your work, but this particular headset was a bit over your budget. But hey, there was a silver lining, it was on discount on the 24th. Why that specific date? Who knows, maybe they know nobody is willing to go on the last day before Christmas. Nobody is that desperate and foolish enough, right? Well, they were certainly underestimating you, because you sure as heck were going to buy it on that day if it meant you could afford it. 

You couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw the gift, it was worth it. And you lowkey wanted to see him wearing those kitty ears, not that you would tell him that. 

It was a smooth plan. Finish the meal for Christmas Eve’s night the day before (with apple pie included, obviously), and go buy the headset in the morning. Kenma had a stream during the day so he could have the evening free, he wouldn’t even notice. 

But now here you were, locked inside your home because of that dreaded snow (that doesn’t even look that good anyways), looking outside your window recounting the sad story of your life in which you didn't manage to buy a present for your boyfriend on Christmas. Just great. 

You were aware he wouldn’t mind if you didn’t give him anything, and that just made it worse somehow. You knew that just spending time together was good enough, but you still wanted to give him anything. Well not anything, you could manage something quick in the few hours you had left, but it would not seem like you had put thought into it. You wanted to show you cared.

You accepted your inevitable fate and decided to wait for the dreaded hour. Yes, maybe you were being a drama llama right now, but Kenma was still busy and you were stuck in your home after long days of work, you had every right to be dramatic after such...foolishness.

There was always the option to barge in on Kenma’s stream, he really didn’t mind. His viewers expected him to be more flustered with his girlfriend there, but he didn’t show it. In reality, they didn’t know how to look. If they paid close attention they would notice he got a little more fidgety, you had that effect on the man. It was all about the details with Kenma, and by now you could read him pretty well.

But right now you didn’t feel like commenting on whatever videogame he was playing, or answering any of his viewers questions. So you decided to be productive and start heating the food and setting the table, it was already starting to get dark. Kenma’s stream was taking more time than what he had planned, but you really didn’t mind, you knew he tended to lose track of time sometimes.

After a while, Kenma emerged. Here he was. Man of your dreams. Hair in a bun (that was cute as well), disheveled, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. One of the many good things about Kenma is that he didn’t really care about events or looks, so you could stay as comfy as you wanted in your pajamas on Christmas Eve and he wouldn’t comment about it. Your parents had other opinions when they saw your photos, but that’s another topic.

“Hey there, cutie pie” you greeted him with a wink. 

You were a couple on Christmas Eve, you were allowed to be as corny as you wanted.

“Hey there...sweetheart” he awkwardly responded.

Somehow this man always managed to make you fall more in love, if that’s even possible.

“I’m sorry about the hour” he started, you could see his tightened shoulders “I know I promised to finish earlier, but I didn’t notice how much time had passed and —”

“Don’t worry about it” you interrupted him, taking his hands “You know I don’t mind, and we still have the rest of the evening for ourselves.” You gently guided him with you, letting him rest his head on your shoulders. You could see he was tired from the stream, it had been long nights for him as well. 

You stayed like that, just enjoying each other’s presence, until he sneezed.

“Cold?” you asked him.

He just nodded on your shoulder, snuggling in more.

You knew Kenma didn’t like extreme temperatures, but this was also an excuse to just stay as close as you wanted. You led him to the couch and cuddled together, finding the position naturally after so many times. 

Some time passed before any of you broke the silence. Not that you wanted to, you were happy enough stroking his fine hair, feeling him relax under your touch. Honestly, you could stay here for the rest of the evening for all you cared.

“You could have interrupted me, you know?” he said softly, not lifting his head “I...enjoy having you there, and I know you wanted to spend more time together.”

You stopped stroking his hair for a brief second. You would not have expected him to care so much about that. Not that he was uncaring, it’s just it wasn’t the first time it had happened. You didn’t mind before, was it because it was Christmas? Kenma was not one to care much about special dates like that. Maybe because it was Christmas with you.

Either way, right now Kenma was worried and you had to assure him it was ok. Little did he know he had not made the worst mistake that day. Let’s keep it that way.

“So do I, but I understand how invested you get sometimes, and believe me, I.don’t.mind.” you said, playfully poking him, accentuating the last three words.

He just hummed in response, going back to the comfortable silence between the two of you. But it seemed his concerns had not dissipated yet.

“Weren’t you bored?” he asked.

You remembered your self loathing episode in the morning. How could you be bored when you had the perfect subject to entertain yourself? You could spend countless hours remembering all the amazing misfortunes of your life, and cringe every time as if you were experiencing it first hand, again. No, you certainly had not been bored. 

“Me? Bored? You think someone as amazing as myself has moments like that? Every second I spend living is already incredible.” You twisted his hair on your finger, hearing him let out a soft snort. 

“What did you do?” he repositioned himself, snuggling even more, if that’s possible.

You felt your mind racing. Of course you could not tell him how you basically spent the whole morning feeling bad about yourself and cursing the snow. He didn’t need to know about that. You had to come up with an excuse, and quick. Anything would suffice.

“I um, I slept most of the morning, binged some Netflix, and heated the food for tonight. Pretty sweet, right?” you blurted out, letting out a small laugh. Damn, lying was not your forte.

You saw he spared a quick side glance to you, but if he noticed anything he didn’t mention it. Sometimes you felt he could read you like a book.

“Yeah” he said.

And back to silence you were. 

You felt him take one of your hands, slowly drawing circles over your palm. Then he intertwined your fingers. You felt his cold palm on yours, your heat slowly passing over to him, as if you were connected. He took your intertwined hands to his lips, giving them a small kiss. You felt your heart flutter, but you also noticed the blush on his cheeks, at least you weren’t the only one. He let his lips rest over them, not moving, just silently keeping them close to him. Next to him you felt warm. Safe. Loved.

Then his stomach growled.

Silence.

“Well, it seems someone’s hungry” you said, letting out a laugh, poking him on the belly.

“No need, I’ll live” he mumbled, lips still against your hands.

"As much as staying together like this seems like a great option” you said, letting go of his hand, hearing a soft grunt in response “I'm hungry as well. And I want to eat the amazing Christmas food we have." You stood up, leaving him on the couch by himself. 

"It's just normal food, there's no difference if we eat it on Christmas or not" he groaned, although he sounded somewhat eager as well.

"True, but apple pie on Christmas is still special." Just with that you could visibly see his reaction, the way he raised his head a little more, as if expecting to see the pie in front of him. How can someone be that cute?

You led the way to the kitchen. He may have complained, but without looking back you already knew he was following you. 

Thanks to your amazing sense of responsibility (and free time), everything was ready to eat. Not that you had made a feast, Kenma was a small eater and you didn't really mind. Potato salad, herb baked chicken, bread and apple pie. You were no culinary expert, but considered this meal a successful one. Simple yet tasty.

Were you in a Christmas mood? Well, it was cold, you were wearing cozy clothes, your home vaguely smelled like pine (thanks to the tree you had set days before), and you were having dinner with your boyfriend in your warm kitchen. Yeah, Christmas mood was on.

You took out some last things from the pantries. When you turned around, Kenma was already seated, a small ball of clothes huddled in front of the food. How cute, he really was cold. 

“You’ll get warmer if you eat” you mentioned.

“I’m waiting for you.”

“What do you want to start with?” you asked as you took your seat.

“Apple pie” he answered, already reaching out for it.

“No way, sweet stuff is meant to be eaten last” you said, lightly smacking his hand.

You saw him pout. An actual pout! Ok, maybe no that much, but he definitely pouted. Apparently hungry Kenma is dramatic Kenma.

“That’s just one more conventionalism people have established, there’s not really a logical reason behind it” he retrieved his hand, rubbing it as if you had hurt him. What a drama queen.

“Sure there is. The last taste is the one that lingers the most. Is better to end with sweet stuff so you finish happily” you insightfully reasoned.

He just stared at you for a moment and shrugged, as if accepting defeat. You tried your best not to roll your eyes while serving the chicken and potato salad, all the while with a smirk on your face. Why had you even bothered to ask what he wanted to start with? There really weren’t that many options.

The meal went smoothly. Obviously your delicious cooking had been well received, Kenma even finished everything you served him (apparently he hadn’t eaten the lunch you prepared, when he focused on videogames it was for real. How had he managed to survive before he met you?). You talked about your day, you asked about the videogames he had been playing, he asked how you were doing on your job. You know, trivial stuff. You had nothing in particular that you wanted to talk about, but it was him you wanted to share this nothing with.

After finishing the meal you managed to convince him to do the dishes before eating the apple pie. Yes, maybe you were being a bit cruel but you promised him it was worth it (and he looked cute pouting, he pouted more if apple pie was on the line). 

Kenma was not one that enjoyed doing domestic chores, they made him tired and he didn’t really care about the place being dirty. But you knew that he would help you or even do them all by himself if you weren’t in the mood. And you had found that doing the dishes was possibly his favourite one. It didn’t involve moving around, he seemed to enjoy the cool feeling of the water (although maybe not so much in the cold), and he liked to organize the dishes in a way they wouldn’t fall and crash (something you were not so good at). 

While he was doing the dishes you were busy clearing the table, the only sound being that of the running water. But apparently he was still a bit mad about the apple pie situation, because you felt a splash of water hitting you in the back. It wasn’t much, just a few droplets actually, but oh if this man wanted war he was going to have it.  


Ok, calm down, no need to start a civil war right now, maybe tone it down a notch.

You hit him with the cloth.

It was a light hit directed to his arm, nothing to fret about. He seemed slightly amused by this, and retaliated by throwing you more water. You shielded yourself but to no avail, he managed to soak your side. That was something you couldn’t let pass. What did you do now?

You hit him with the cloth again. This time on the booty.

Now that he hadn’t expected. The surprised look on his face was to die for. You tried your best not to laugh on his face. His widened eyes, the faint blush on his cheeks, his hands petrified holding a plate while the water was still running. It was so adorable and funny. When he finally reacted he just rolled his eyes and continued with the dishes, but you could see a smirk on his face. He did not throw water in your direction again. I guess we had a winner.

After you were both done you sat once again on the table. At last, the time had come. You were facing each other, the apple pie in the middle of the table. Slowly, Kenma reached towards the pie with his knife, cutting a slice for you and one for himself. It was like time itself was slowing down, you both desperately wanted to eat it yet at the same time you wanted to make the moment last as much as you could. One wouldn’t normally be this intense about apple pie, but this was your Christmas apple pie, baked with love following an online recipe, it was meant to be enjoyed by Kenma and you only. It was a special apple pie.

It was a good apple pie. Not the best, you had to admit, but not the worst either. Hey, not everything could be perfect. One would think that having a boyfriend that loves apple pie would have meant that after many tries you would have managed to perfect the recipe, being able to bake the ultimate apple pie. That was not the case. You had tried several times of course, but you just couldn’t do better than this. 

“It’s really good” Kenma said after finishing his slice. 

You smiled.

“I know, right? It seems I am getting better”, you took another bite of yours.

Maybe not everything had to be perfect. 

You finished your slices and started putting everything away. Kenma said he had forgotten something in your bedroom, you waited for him patiently in the kitchen. Enjoying the warm atmosphere you let your mind drift, recounting the events of the evening. It had been a good Christmas Eve. Maybe it was like the ones before, but so what? And it's not like they all were the same, every single one of them had been special and they will continue to be, as long as you and Kenma are together you didn’t need anything else.

Looking out the window you could see the snow still was determined on falling. Maybe it was not so bad, it made for a pretty view. Outside only the lights of other houses could be seen, fireflies in the void of the night. You glanced at the reflection of the clock, 11:45pm, you still had time before it was officially Christmas.

But wait, that was a reflection. Turning around you could see the truth. It was not 11:45pm of December 24th, it was 1:15am of December 25th. It was already Christmas. Time had flown by and you hadn’t even noticed. 

You wanted to smack yourself. First no gift, now you were late for Christmas. Amazing. Oh god, you had forgotten the whole gift situation. You had no gift, it was an hour past the beginning of Christmas and you —

“Y/n? Is everything ok?” You turned around. Kenma was looking directly at you from the kitchen door, his eyebrows a little furrowed. You didn’t notice the hand behind his back.

You just stared back, not able to think of an appropriate response.

“Merry Christmas” you said weakly.

He looked confused. Turned his gaze to the clock and then back at you.

“Merry Christmas” he said in return.

“We are late for Christmas” you explained after he continued staring at you.

The look of confusion on his face didn’t go away, as if that wasn’t a good enough reason for you to be worried. Ok, you could see how maybe being late for Christmas wasn’t that big of a deal, after all, all day —

“All day is Christmas day, no? It doesn’t matter if we didn’t start celebrating exactly at 00:00am.” It was as if he could hear your thoughts. 

He was not wrong, you knew it, but you couldn’t help but feel bad about it. Why? You couldn’t even explain it to yourself. Maybe since you had no gift you wanted to compensate by making Chrsitmas feel more special? How would celebrating Christmas on the exact hour it started make it more special? There was no logical reason behind that, you just felt like it.

Everything was going fine, why did you have to ruin it like this?

“I know, but Christmas should be a little more special? Wait, no, I don’t mean that what we did today was not special, I like being with you” you stammered what first came to mind, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “Is just, I don’t know, I made a mistake and just can’t shake the feeling off. And now it’s already Christmas and I didn’t know.” You really couldn’t make sense to what you were saying.

You hadn’t noticed he had closed the distance between you, he moved really silent sometimes. He just stood there, reaching his hand to yours, barely intertwining your pinkies. Reassuring you he was there for you.

“A mistake? What are you talking about? If anything I was the one that broke his promise, you didn’t do anything wrong.” 

You knew the whole situation was pretty stupid. Worrying so much over a gift, over the hour. You knew he wouldn’t care either way. But you did. And he knew that, so he would understand, right?

“I um, I didn’t buy you a gift.”

There, you said it. The one thing you couldn’t stop thinking about all those days, all this morning. That stubborn weight that hadn’t stopped bothering you. 

Kenma remained silent for a second.

“Oh” he wrapped his hand around yours “well um, you know I don’t need anything. And spending time with you is already a gift for me.” You noticed a faint blush when he said this.

“And it is for me too!” you calmed down a bit, his presence relaxing you. “Is just, well, I had found this cute neko headset on sale and wanted to buy it today. But that damned snow had to ruin everything.” Screw the snow being pretty, you wanted to curse it now more than ever.

What you heard next surprised you. He giggled. Kenma was giggling. He was giggling at what you had said. You couldn’t believe it. Here you were, sharing your pains and sufferings, and he just giggled in response. Betrayal.

“I’m sorry, do you find it funny?” as much as you wanted to fake anger, you were already starting to feel better. The funny feeling in your stomach slowly going away. 

He just stared directly at you, a small smile on his face. You could feel his hand starting to play with yours.

“A neko headset” he said.

That was all he had taken away from that. Nevermind the rant about it being a special day, the snow being the worst thing nature could have invented, no. The neko headset.

“What about it? It’s cute” you explained.

“Did you watch my stream?” he questioned.

You don’t know why you felt your cheeks blush. Is not like it was rare of you to watch his streams, you were his girlfriend, you cared for what he did. And even if you hadn’t been a couple, you still would have liked them. Possibly.

“Of course, I’m your number one fan.” It was officially Christmas, corny mode was on.

You expected him to roll his eyes at you, or maybe even snort at your comment. You certainly weren’t expecting a kiss.  


Kenma’s kisses were short and sweet. Not that you were complaining, you loved them everytime. They were a spur of the moment thing, a quick decision he made and enjoyed, but he still would feel a bit shy about. He preferred other ways of showing affection, he liked playing with your hands, with your hair, maybe even giving you a few kisses on the cheeks or forehead. Mouth kisses were not that common.

And certainly not this one. Whenever you think you know Kenma like the back of your hand, he still manages to surprise you. This kiss was different. Not bad different, oh no. Just...different. It was longer, tender, deeper. Your lips moved in sync. You involuntarily placed one hand on his shoulder, keeping him close. You felt his hands shifting, but didn’t pay much attention, too enthralled on the feeling of his lips over yours. 

It didn’t last long. You pulled away, still feeling the lingering warm on your lips. He was looking away, a blush on his cheeks, and you could feel a similar one too. No words were shared, they weren’t needed. You smiled, pressing your forehead against his, listening to your breaths and nothing else. 

He broke the silence.

“You want some hot chocolate?” he asked. Eyes closed, foreheads still together.

You nodded. He hummed in response, turning around, giving you a light squeeze on your hand before heading to the pantries. You made your way to the couch in your living room.

You plummeted down, hearing him look for mugs and starting to prepare your beverages. You may have not done much, but it still felt like a long day. Maybe your work was taking a toll on you, you felt tired. You turned on the tv, mindlessly browsing the Netflix catalog, not really looking for something in particular.

Looking back on it, the gift thing wasn’t the end of the world. You could always buy the headset later and he would appreciate it all the same. And you could also argue about finding happiness in non-materialistic things, but you didn’t want to get philosophical. No, right now you just wanted to relax next to Kenma.

He arrived with two cups in his hands. One was for you, with hot chocolate, the other one for him, with warm milk. He sat next to you, immediately cuddling.

“Watch out, we don’t want the drinks to spill” you warned him.

He took a sip of his milk. You held your mug between your hands, feeling the heat. Taking a cautious sip, not wanting to burn your tongue. 

“You want to play some video games?” you asked “We could play Animal Crossing and decorate the island, or I can kick your butt on Mario Kart” you said, laughing a little.

He looked you in the eyes, with that intense gaze of his.

“Don’t you want to watch a movie instead?” he asked.

“What? That’s so cliche. And you now I’m always down to play with you.” In all honesty, you were a bit tired, but you knew he loved playing video games with you.

But surely enough, he also knew you pretty well.

“I can see you are tired” he looked away “we can just watch a movie for now...maybe one of those Christmas movies.”

You stared at him in disbelief. Kenma was willing to watch one of those corny, crappy Christmas movies with you? He hated them. Every year you tried to convince him to watch one, and only once you had succeeded. This really was a special occasion.

You smiled at him.

“You sure? There’s no backing down, no matter how bad it is.”

You could see he was already starting to regret his decision, but he just nodded.

That was all you needed. You cuddled next to him and started looking for the corniest Christmas movie on Netflix. Not an easy task. Kenma just watched, playing with your hair while you were focused.

“You don’t need to feel bad about it, you know?” he said, setting his mug next to him.

You stopped your deep search for a moment.

“You don’t need to worry about proving your love to me. I know you do, and I love you too, there’s no need for anything more.” You felt a slight kiss on your forehead. You wanted to turn and face him, but he was probably blushing and would be embarrassed if you did. 

You simply snuggled more.

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t buy a gift either” he added. You wanted to laugh.

“No need, I’m happy as it is.” You didn’t need anything from him, that was the truth. Being next to him was more than enough.

“But I will buy you that headset, I promise” you said, lifting the remote to emphasise your vow “I will buy it and you will use it on your streams, and thanks to that your viewer numbers will sky rocket.”

He snorted, giving you another quick kiss. You smiled and continued looking for the movie.

If you had been paying attention, maybe you would have noticed the quick glances he made to the pantry when he mentioned the gift. Maybe you would have seen beyond his facade. But you were too busy, and he wouldn't have wanted you to have known either. 

Not all gifts had to be given on Christmas day.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading. This was my first fic, hope you liked it. Stay safe and happy holidays!


End file.
